Some advice would be appreciated.

[farmmax]

I've been approached by a designer from a Netherlands Wall Decor company to buy an image, and the rights to use the image on home textile and wall decoration items. I have no idea on what would be a reasonable price and what rights would be suitable on the image. It is my most popular image, and I've sold prints/cards of it before, so don't want to totally lose the rights over it. Any advice would be welcome.

[ricktas]

Why not a % of sales? Say %5 or %10 of the sale price? As long as you trust them to give you accurate figures. If it sells well you keep getting a 'royalty' for years to come and could do really well out of it.

1 - make sure contract is for the use stipulated. If they want to add more products, then new agreement.
2 - they cannot sell the image to other, it is only for use on the products they have stated.

If say you sold the rights for $1000.00 that is it, nothing more. They suddenly go viral (it happens) and make $M off the products with your photo on it. Doing a % can work out well for all parties. One the buyer doesn't have to fork out a heap of $ right now, but you don't get $ right now either. But as a % of sales, the ongoing benefits could be well more than the $1000 up front.

Not a solution to your question, but gives you something to think about.

[farmmax]

Thank you ricktas. I have no idea where to start. Didn't even think about it on a "royalty" basis, but I'm glad you bought it up. Definitely not interested in that option. That's one decision made :)

I know nothing about the business concerned. It could be a little backyard business or a multinational company. I'll confess there are things I'd rather do in life than worry about selling images. I'm not prepared to give them the right to use the image for free, because that is why commercial photographers have been pushed out of business.

What if I tell them I may be prepared to sell them the image and ask them to suggest what price they had in mind? There are some handy guides on some of the different rights, so I understand a tiny bit about those now.

[ricktas]

If you ask what price they had in mind, you are giving them control over the transaction, and they are always going to offer a price that is to their benefit, not yours. i would do some research into the company, see how their current items sell. Are they big or small?

What a small two person operation might pay $100-$200 for, a large corporate might pay $thousands.

The other way is a 'limited' run. Charge them a fee for the rights for say 3 months, and ask them to report back with sales figures. Then at the end of the 3 months negotiate a longer term contract based on sales? But again, in 3 months they might sell 20, or 20,000. Not knowing their business or the size of their customer base is limiting your decision here.

[Orlando Sydney]

I can't work out how to delete my previous post. No. 5.
Can that please be deleted. It offers no value to the thread starter.

Thank you

[ameerat42]

Post deleted as requested.

If you have any issues at all with any post, click on the small triangular button located at the lower LHS of the post pane.
It contains the "!" exclamation symbol. This will let you send a message to the admin team about the post.

[markdphotography]

What did you decide to do farmmax? WHat happened in the end and are you happy with the outcome now?